Theology beyond the shoreline

this Anachronistic Obedience

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines anachronism as, “a person or a thing that is chronologically out of place”, and also as, “a misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other.” As with the picture above, we understand intuitively (or should) that certain things don’t go together, as well as the idea that things tend to follow a certain order in life.

And yet somehow, when it comes to the subject of obedience to God, Christians can often throw this understanding of the order of things out the window; seemingly oblivious to it. We’ll get to the anachronistic part momentarily, but the first problem we face when it comes to the subject of obedience to God is simply a complete misunderstanding of what that actually is! It ends up looking like this: we, who have been redeemed by the blood of the spotless Lamb of God through no effort, choice, or even desire of our own, suddenly get the idea that we need to start paying God back. One of the most obvious ways we try to do this is by “rule keeping” and/or making the ideas of obedience to God and “filling up our account with Him” synonymous. J.D. Greear says in his excellent book “Gospel” that we often land in this place because we view the gospel as the “diving board” into salvation instead of being the pool itself. Or, to put it another way, the gospel is the “starting pistol” that begins the race rather than the race itself. This faulty understanding of the gospel will invariably lead us to the assumption that God has gotten us started in Christ, but we now have the impossible task of earning what Scripture says from start to finish can never be earned.

But the purpose of this post (and my second point) is to suggest that – if we can ever get beyond the idea of obedience to God as somehow earning our salvation – we can just as easily fall victim to a whole new problem viz. an anachronistic understanding of obedience that sees love for God flowing out of obedience to Him rather than our obedience flowing out of love for God. The main problem with this understanding is that it completely sucks the life out our ability to ever obey God!

So, this is where things start to get kooky. Has anyone ever been driving past one of those ‘speed traps’ just a little bit too fast and thought to themselves as they’re flagged down, “Man, i love the police department!” Or been sitting under a mountain of receipts and folders during tax time and felt deeply, “I really love Canada!” How about standing before a counter full of dishes you now have to wash from the Thanksgiving dinner that you just made? Is anyone’s heart overflowing with joy for the gift of family at that moment? Matt Chandler (Matty C) said it best when he said, “Obedience [he used the word discipline] won’t bring about love, but true love will always include obedience [discipline]” So, we actually switch the order that God has lovingly laid out for us when we imagine that trying really hard to be obedient will somehow create deeper love for Him, even though we see this nowhere else in life.

–

Try something really “radical” then: follow the way God designed things to work, and see if the result is not remarkably different. You can find innumerable examples of this design in Scripture, but here are two i think illustrate this understanding well:

The first is found in the book of Exodus. God miraculously frees His chosen people Israel from slavery in Egypt through signs and wonders and plagues and, finally, by parting the Red Sea for them to cross over, while destroying the pursuing Egyptians in the same path. The thing to see here is that it is only after God has rescued and redeemed His people that He gives them His good laws to obey in Ex. 20.

The second example is seen in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5 ff. where, again, it is only after Jesus describes the blessedness we have as born again children of God (Matt. 5:2-11) that He goes on to define what obedience to the law (and its depths) actually looks like.

Consider your own experience even: who among us, out of gratefulness and love for the cook, doesn’t go into the kitchen after the Thanksgiving feast, role up our sleeves and dig into helping cleaning up for them? What new parent, out of the joy and love for this new member of their family, does not surrender sleep and sanity to sit up with a screaming baby at 3:00 am? And what redeemed sinner, staggered under the weight of the heavy price that was paid for them on the cross, does not joyfully offer service to their Saviour and His Bride? Yet in every case, He is always the initiator. He, Whom is called ‘Love’ Himself, always gives us the gift first that then elicits the loving response.

He, to Whom we owe all things; the One of Whose love so amazing we sing ‘demands my soul, my life, my all’, demands these, not to repay Him in any way, nor out of any sense of duty, but simply out of the overflow of a grateful heart. When we get the order right, then, obedience to His commands is not burdensome, but our true delight and the plain evidence of our love for Him (1 Jn.5:2,3).

Selah.

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small!

RSS links

RSS

When it comes to the subject of God’s calling on someone’s life, where are the boundary markers? Which is simply to ask: what are the circumstances or events in someone’s life that would exempt them from being used any longer by God? Maybe you think the answer is obvious or perhaps your own life circumstances … Continue reading Disability, calling and the di […]

When you’re going through something difficult or scary in life, it’s the most natural thing in the world to want someone close to you; to go with you or to be right by your side. For the Christian, one of our dearest hopes in pain or trial is also that God Himself is close to … Continue reading Far away, so close: transcendence beautifying immanence

Have you ever started out on some project or endeavor, only to discover part ways in that it was actually going to be much more costly and time consuming than you had originally planned? I’ve had such an experience recently with my youngest daughter and Highland Dancing. We put her in assuming that once fees … Continue reading Costly worship?

When you’re faced with something that feels too big for you, what is one of the first prayers on your lips? Ins’t it, “God, give me strength!” or “Father, empower me for this task before me.”? This was – for instance – Sampson’s prayer as he stood between the two pillars in Judges 16:28, or … Continue reading Weaken me for Your service

We’ve all experienced it: that freeing, liberating feeling that an honest confession from a friend brings, which causes you to un-tense and say, “… Oh! So I’m not the freak I thought I was? Thank goodness!” It does’t matter as much what the subject is. Call it “misery loves company” or “true confessions”, there is … Continue reading Showing our hand: a ne […]

I’ve always loved the book of Galatians. There are few other books in the bible that demonstrate so clearly the disparity between earned righteousness and gifted righteousness as this letter from the apostle Paul to the church at Galatia. But in the same way that we continue to desire McDonalds food even after seeing Supersize … Continue reading Christ and […]

As evangelical preachers, we say that the word of God is our sole authority for all matters of life and doctrine (Prov. 30:5-6) and that we can hold to that belief because the One who ultimately wrote that word to us is also true (Romans 3:4). My question is whether or not we end up teaching … Continue reading Every lofty opinion: Preaching that prepares fo […]

After telling us to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”, the apostle Paul states plainly in Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows that will he also reap.” And as I consider the recent events in the USA regarding Michael Brown and Eric Garner, for the … Continue reading The psychology of oppress […]

We’ve all heard the words and likely said them ourselves many times, “No pain, no gain.” We get (or should anyways) that most things in life that are worth accomplishing require some degree of effort and struggle in order to achieve them. But if we default to thinking about that effort and struggle in one … Continue reading The gain of pain: Suffering as p […]